Charles Williams

Return to Randolph Group Photo

Original information:
Theodore and Mary Williams were 28 and 34 at time of voyage. They seem to have been Welsh but living in Wiltshire. They applied to the Canterbury Association for a 50-acre section. They drew Rural Section 137 on Harewood Road, 10 miles from Papanui. Their town section was the one on which the Royal Hotel was built.

They travelled with their daughter, Catherine, and sons Theodore and Charles, of whom Charles was the youngest.

Charles Hood Williams was educated at Christ’s College. He began work for the Union Bank of Australia in 1861. In 1864 he left the bank and went into the Provincial Government Office as a clerk. From 1872-76 he was Assistant Secretary for Public Works. In 1872 he was appointed secretary-treasurer to the Lyttelton Harbour Board, and he held that office until his death.

Readers’ response:
David Theodore Williams (1810-March 1852) was born in Heytesbury, Wiltshire. He married Mary Ann (Molly) (b. 1816) on August 14, 1838. The family was originally from Wales. The family’s first home was a raupo whare in Hagley Park.

Charles Hood Williams (1843-December 30, 1912) worked on brother-in-law David Innes’s property in Pareora for two years (1859-1860). He had a strong interest in horse-racing and established a stable while managing and training with William Hyde Harris’s thoroughbreds in Pareora. At the Studholm race meet at Orari in April 1859, he rode three winners. He and Harry Piper won the Dunedin Cup with Sultan in 1890.

He served on the Canterbury Jockey Club continuously for 23 years, and was secretary of the Tattersalls Club, which controlled bookmakers. He had an unrivalled knowledge of racing rules and law, was a delegate to the Racing Conference and was elected to the Handicapping Commission.

Charles owned a number of properties during his life. He owned 780 acres in Ashburton County, valued at £3900. In 1893, he owned 271 Armagh Street; 1890-1899, 175 Chester Street; 1899-1903, 276 Armagh Street; 1903-1909, 241 Armagh Street; and in 1911, 68 Armagh Street.

Charles married Elizabeth Allard (b. 1851) in 1873 in Christchurch. Together they had five children − Victor Groomes (c. 1875-c. 1876), Lewis Morris Thomas (January 6, 1879-December 12, 1945), Verona Bell (August 17, 1886-1984), Alice Mary and Winifred Katherine. ¹

Footnotes:
1. P. M. Johns, unpublished family history and family tree